The Other Mothers
Kelle Clarke The early morning train passes swiftly through the thick trees below, sending her coffee mug jittering across the counter. […]
When the Organ Player from Schmitt Music Stops You After Your Shift on Holy Saturday to Say You’re Terribly Beautiful
Elizabeth Fletcher You’re on the second-floor concourse when it happens. It’s one level up from the music store and neighboring one-hour […]
How to visit an Irish peninsula in the 1970s
Mary Byrne Take the long way around a coastal promontory on a Sunday afternoon. Floor the accelerator in vain when the clutch […]
Nobody Will Hear Them
David Hartley Craig knows other Craig sneaks into his shed with his girlfriends. Craig knows other Craig thinks nobody will hear […]
Post Modern
A. Joseph Black Christ, he’s still there. I lean back out of view and catch the curtain with my shoulder. It sways […]
Candy-Striped and Candy-Stripped at Greenwood Leflore Hospital, During the Summer of Your 16th Year
Exodus Oktavia Brownlow Candy Stripersspells a little too much like Candy Strippers.A uniform’s a uniform’s a uniform,and you are a peppermint-wrapped-paper sweet.When the […]
Wolf Song
Lisa DeCastro I am an onyx pearl Inside your shell Rolling on your tongue Swallowed Implanted A stone in the underbelly In […]
This is what happens when you go places:
Sidney Dritz In my head I’m still standing on that curb, night time in May, and my lips on your lips, airplanes […]
With Nothing to Lose (Not Even Her Body)
Mandira Pattnaik Adori wasn’t always a shadow. When her husband confined her to a window-less room immediately after her twins were […]
They Were Boiling Their Clothes
Rodrigo Duran They were boiling their clothes. They were in the kitchen wearing raincoats, but the true outfits swirled in […]
The During is a Deep, Wide Pit
Lindsey Neely I knew last night that today would suck but I watched the testimony anyway because you have to know […]
The Copyeditor’s Lament
JP Seabright I dream in the margins. My head full of black marks on a page. Several small underlinings; here and […]
Out to the Rain
Lauren Cortese We think we stopped crying on a Thursday. Those of us who were at funerals or who gave birth that […]
Night Fishers
Merridawn Duckler Water against the pier like a throat click. The churned blanket of our childhood bed. Lines curve back and fly […]
Seed, Root, Shoot
James Montgomery Soon enough, there’ll be time for twelve red roses. A carnation wrist corsage. Homemade Christmas wreaths hung from her own […]
How Do You Recognize a Good Man?
Kristina Thornton Friday night freedom hangs in the air as she follows him through the packed street. Shouts and laughs surround them. […]
Hot Girl Summer For Nerds Who Love Too Hard
Avery Nguyen You don’t know how to hook up with me and I don’t know how to hook up with you. Just […]
Scarlett’s Got a Gun
Fiona McKay Scarlett’s got a gun. Moves on alcohol-soft legs through a glass room, louring shadows, candlestick-high. Feels no pain, plant-pot rammed, […]
Autumn Wasp
Harriet MacMillan You have made of me an autumn wasp.The last yellow gasp of summer was utteredand the air crisped around me, […]
Growing Season
Katie Hunter Last summer my tomatoes Swept the garden. Downy tendrils swaddled jalapeños and My soiled hands Arrested dreams of eggplant Crept […]
Museum Piece
Becky May They’d hung Monet’s ‘Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond’ across the white expanse of wall in the end room, […]
Mortuary Science
Terri Linn Davis (read Terri’s interview about this poem with our Poetry Editor, Ian O’Brien, here) Terri Linn Davis has an MFA […]
Robbie was here
Adele Rickerby Robbie was here ‘84 Flick of a thin folded foreskin, a ring of rubber peeled, turning, curving, splaying and spraying […]
When Pigs Fly
Kyla Houbolt The President identifies as an alien shill. He has trouble falling down stairs. And up them. I mean, he forgot […]
Interview With Poet, Terri Linn Davis
Ian O’Brien 1) ‘Mortuary Science’ is part of a wider project you are working on. Tell us a little about that. “Mortuary […]
postpartum rage
Vic Nogay in a vision, i hit her. her giggles go silent, her lights short out, the synapses fold as the twinkle […]
The Weeping Woman
Claire Hampton I watch the man at the table gnawing his dirty fingernails, pungent sweat darkening the underarms of his denim […]
Sorry For What I Said When We Were Putting Up the Tent
Helen Gordon It was the smell, shaken out with the crisped corpses of last summer’s earwigs; musty, with a tang of mould […]
Workaholic
Katja Sass It’s 9.45 pm. Everyone’s gone except a 30-something woman sitting alone in her 2m2 office cubicle, finishing off the last […]
The Registrar
Abi Hennig He tucks a stray curl behind her ear. She leans into him, rests her head on his shoulder as he […]
The Obligatory Alligator
Jesse Millner Last night I dreamed I drove through an army base I’d never been to before. It was huge and filled […]
The Galactic Well at the Edge of Existence
Riley Cross Eo stirred the well with a silver spoon. The waters of space and time rippled in response. He waited for […]
Statistically Speaking
Daniel Guy Baldwin There is a fifty-one percent chance of being born a boy, forty-nine percent chance of being born a […]
Star Guard
Todd Clay Stuart On the first night of the comet, Beth looks up between the austere poplar trees in their back […]
Little Limbs
Leonie Rowland He came to me on his seventy-fifth birthday, when his hands were soft enough to save. They had kept […]
Laughing Tiger Buckles Slowly: A T’ai Chi Lesson
Tom Walsh T’ai chi is going slowly. The instructor’s cat died and we spent a lot of time talking about that. He […]
Dentata Non Grata
Kate Doughty The first tooth came, and the rest of them followed. This would not have been an issue if I […]
Brand-new Blue Sponge to Clean Up After a Memorable Dinner for Two
S.A. Greene The man is sitting facing the window. The woman sits down, facing the man. The man has assembled the salad. […]
In the City of Philandering Flowerpots
Tara Campbell How, exactly, does a flowerpot make love? And how does a flowerpot betray? Technically, a pot is a vessel, […]
Illumination
Sarah McPherson When I am fired, I take the angle-poise lamp from the edge of the desk. I am not sure why […]
Convenience Store Babies
Rosaleen Lynch Convenience store babies were all the rage back then. Came with pipettes the size of turkey basters. Advertised in […]
Amicable
Nathan Willis Say that you need some time alone. It’ll be easier this way. Suggest that your partner visit her […]
Foreign
Lisa Ferranti Editor’s note from Sudha Balagopal: I’ve enjoyed Lisa Ferranti’s fiction for the gentle intimacy her stories convey. In this tale, […]
Two Audio Poetry Performances: Toxic and You Are Music
Melinda Smith Editorial note from Janice Leagra: I don’t remember how I first connected to Melinda on Twitter, but I remember seeing […]
The Grapevine
Marcy Dilworth Editorial note from Sara Siddiqui: In her vivid and concise story, Marcy Dilworth describes the wisp of energy and enthusiasm […]
Do You Remember the Secret We Share?
Jaya Wagle Editor’s Note from Sudha Balagopal: This CNF by Jaya Wagle drew me in from the very first sentence. This story […]
How To Tame a Sea Parrot
Rachael Smart (words) and David Smith (photos) Editor’s note from Janice Leagra: This is a very special and exciting feature for me […]
Lorna
Johannah Simon Editorial note from Myna Chang: This story pulses with desolation and skewed hope, from the powerful narrative voice to the […]
The Devil You Know (TW: Abuse)
Ariel M. Goldenthal Editorial note from Sara Siddiqui: In very few words, Ariel shows us the day-to-day, minute-to-minute struggle of an almost-twelve-year-old […]
I Want to Write About the Moon
Shiksha Dheda Editor’s Note from Sudha Balagopal: The moon and longing create the perfect mood in this poem by Shiksha Dheda. Images, […]